Senate Committee on Science and Technology Chairman, Senator Edgardo J. Angara, urged stakeholders in the Information Technology Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry to fast track the expansion of non-voice and other knowledge process high-value-added services. “We should now aim to be more than just the contact center of the world. All IT-BPO stakeholders should help build on the efforts of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) to collaborate on more long-term talent development interventions,” said Sen. Angara.

This is in relation to recent reports that jobs will be brought back to the Philippines by US companies. In a communication between the Senate Committee, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a coalition of call centers called “jobs4america” there will be 100,000 jobs available in the next two years. Among US companies, AT&T promised to bring back about 5,000 jobs if their bid to buy T-Mobile USA is consummated.

Sen. Angara further said that, “[the] trying economic times have become the incentive for the US to start reeling in the work they outsourced. For IT-BPO to remain a sunrise industry in the country, we need to expand beyond voice services and deepen our pool of professionals well-versed in financial analytics, legal research, creative content, software development, medical transcription and other knowledge-intensive services.”

Along with these lines, Sen. Angara reported that a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between TESDA) and BPAP has been recently signed to mutually support the preparation of 2,200 scholars for the BPO workforce. TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva said that the MoA identified some P-20 million funds to be granted to BPAP to train the scholars. Among the BPAP members that will take part as resource trainers are Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), Health Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (HIMOAP), Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ACPI) and the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA).